10,000 tea party protesters stir it up in East Bay

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Caroline Sullivan of Dublin and Karin Butchko of Tracy don their patriotic head gear for the Tea Party gathering at the Alameda County fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., Thursday April 15, 2010. (Karl Mondon/Staff)

PLEASANTON — Tea party protesters fed up with government spending and mounting federal debt marked tax day Thursday with one of the largest rallies in the state, urging voters to boot out career politicians in the November elections.

A crowd estimated by police at around 10,000 people — from kids to seniors, but predominantly white — descended on the Alameda County Fairgrounds to express their frustration with those in office and the recent passage of the national health care bill.

“This is great timing for us,” said Bridget Melson, president of the Pleasanton T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) Party and event organizer. “The passing of the health care bill has incensed and fired people up.”

Throughout the five-hour event, protesters arrived waving flags, dressed in a sea of patriotic colors and costumes, and holding signs with slogans like: “Vote the traitors out in November,” “Time for real change,” and “I will remember in November.”

The event featured over a dozen speakers hoping to unseat incumbents Sen. Barbara Boxer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jerry McNerney. D-Pleasanton, and others.

Carly Fiorina, a Republican and former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is running for the seat held by Boxer. Fiorina told the crowd that government had forgotten who it works for and that she could help spur job growth.

“Congress forgot the basics, that it’s our money and not theirs,” she said. “Barbara Boxer doesn’t have a clue where jobs come from. People who create jobs and the American dream are not in Washington, they are at this rally today.”

The Pleasanton rally gained headlines earlier this week after organizers uninvited Orly Taitz, an Orange County attorney and one of the leaders of the “birther” movement that claims President Barack Obama was not born in this country. Organizers feared the negative attention would overshadow their message on taxes and health care.

Fiorina was asked afterwards if she was concerned about being aligned with extreme conservatives like Taitz. She responded by saying she thought President Obama was constitutionally qualified to be president and that the bigger issue was the concerns of the thousands that attended Thursday’s protest.

“We have thousands of people all over the country who are expressing a legitimate view, which is our government is out of control,” she said. It’s spending too much. It’s taxing too much and it’s not accountable to the people who work hard to earn money every day.”

It was a message that the thousands in attendance at the fairgrounds agreed with.

Christopher Chatman drove in from Palo Alto to share his concerns about government spending, find out more information about the Republican candidates running for office, and to dispel reports that Tea Party members are racist.

Chatman, one of a handful of blacks at the event, wore a T-shirt he had made that read: What! Out of Pekoe? How about some American Black T.E.A.”

“I made this T-shirt to have a little fun,” Chatman said. “I went to last year’s event and didn’t meet anyone who said anything racist. The same thing with this year.”

The $940 billion health care bill and McNerney drew a large portion of the crowd’s ire. Four candidates hoping to unseat the congressman spoke at the rally.

David Harmer, a San Ramon lawyer, is making his third try for the District 11 seat.

“My top priority is to control federal spending,” Harmer said. “That is not partisan, this is principle.”

Robert Jordan covers Dublin and Pleasanton. Contact him at 925-847-2184.